“No.”
“It was you, in Miami, isn’t it?” I drag myself away, lifting my hand between us to stop him from getting any closer. “You texted me at the school, left me the notes in the cafe and led me to that courtyard where you’d texted Reid earlier from my phone to meet me there. It was you playing the Butterfly Man game that day, not Blake.”
He shudders with tears. “I love you.”
“You were going to kill an innocent man, Tristan.”
“Innocent?” Hatred spits from his voice like venom. “He was taking you away from me. When the stalker game was over, you were gonna choose him over me.”
“You didn’t know that.”
“Yes, I did! You wouldn’t have touched me that night if you hadn’t believed he was the stalker. Because the truth isyouwould never chooseme. Don’t you remember our deal? You told me if he wasn’t the stalker, we’d go our separate ways. You told me to forget all about you and never look back.” One tear dropsdown his cheek. “I couldn’t let that happen. I did what I did because it was the only way I could have you.”
“Villains burn the world down to save the girl.”
“Yes,” he sighs in relief, as if we see eye to eye. “A thousand times yes, baby.”
“And they kill anyone in the way to have the girl.”
He swallows again. “Birdie,Reagan, I’m begging you. Don’t do this. Tell me what I can do. I’d do anything to make you forgive me, to prove to you that I will never do anything to hurt you ever again. Please.”
“I know you won’t hurt me, Tristan, but you will hurt others who did nothing wrong in the name of loving me.”
“So what, this is it? You brought me all the way here, let me fuck you one last time to say goodbye? Because I’m too fucking dark for you now?”
“You lied to my face. You manipulatedme. How can I ever trust you?”
“I’m sorry. Do you want me on my knees?” His knees hit the sand. “For you, only for you, I’d beg for the rest of my life if I have to.”
My chest cracks with heartache. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t have feelings for Tristan. His darkness, his groveling… It’s taking every ounce of willpower not to succumb to his toxic love, the only kind I’ve known, the one I crave despite knowing how excruciatingly painful it always ends.
“Please, Reagan. I’ve been waiting for you all my life. Everything that I’ve done, every line I’ve crossed, was just to be with you. Don’t take that away from me. I can’t live without you.”
I throw my arms around him, embracing him with all my strength. My thumb caresses the scar above his lip, and I kiss it ever so gently. “I’m so sorry, Tristan. I didn’t break free from Blake’s prison to throw myself in another, no matter how beautiful the bars.”
CHAPTER 45
Birdie
Home feels foreign when I open the door. Blake is gone. Gia is gone, and today, Tristan and his crew will leave, too. I’ve already said my goodbyes to Marcus, Brandon, Dixon, Riley and even Morrison.
All except for Tristan.
I couldn’t risk it. I couldn’t bring myself to look at his face, to feel his arms around me one last time, to let his scent wreck me and say to hell with it. There’s a part of me that will always long for getting lost into his hazel eyes. That part has to stay buried and forgotten.
Through the window, I watch Tristan outside with the other bodyguards and their equipment. His gaze lifts and finds mine. For a heartbeat, neither of us moves. A million words. One silent goodbye.
As he closes the gate to the house, another cracks open in my soul, setting all the tears I’ve locked up for years free. Everyone who has ever hurt me is gone. No one is here to stop me from feeling everything I’m allowed to feel, from being my true self.
My phone rings. It’s the detective. I sniffle and wipe my face. “Hi Jacob, or should I call you Reid from now on?”
“You can call me RJ.” I can hear the smile in his voice.
“I like the sound of that.”
“How are you, Birdie?”
I wish I could tell him to start calling me Reagan, but I haven’t let him in on all parts of my past yet. He’d asked about Aaron and Miami, but had I answered, it would have led to Jacksonville, too. Those stories don’t belong between us. Some secrets should stay buried no matter what.
